Web links for 10th August 2009

Ruth Sunderland challenges the latest research on women's apparent business failures. The study concluded that boards with women were better at monitoring and supervising the behaviour of executives, but that this was counterproductive at well-run companies, where it was allegedly correlated with lower profits and share price. Sunderland points out that even assuming that is true, using profit and market value as the prime measures of worth, when the credit crunch has provided such a vivid illustration of the possible consequences of an unrestrained dash for growth, may be questionable. She also highlights that given women are still so under-represented on the boards of UK companies – they still hold less than 12% of directorships – it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about what difference they make.